African American Timeline 1492-1821

Complete each sentence or statement.

_____________ - Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, which makes cotton cultivation on a huge scale possible in the South and thus greatly increases the need for slaves, whose numbers skyrocket.

__________________ - The U.S.'s first independent African American church denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is organized in Philadelphia. By 2002, it will have more than 3 million members.

_______________________ - African American businessman Paul Cuffe finances the settlement of 38 African Americans in Sierra Leone.

___________________ - The first book by an African American is published (in England) when Phillis Wheatley, then a slave, publishes "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral."

__________________ - Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave, becomes the first Colonial soldier to die for American independence when he is killed by the British in the Boston Massacre.

______________ - One of the earliest slave revolts takes place in Stono, South Carolina. A score of whites and more than twice as many blacks slaves are killed as the armed slaves try to flee to Florida.

__________________ - Benjamin Banneker publishes the first almanac by an African-American and is appointed by President George Washington to help survey Washington, D.C.

_____________________ - Gabriel Prosser tries to organize the first large-scale slave revolt in the U.S., gathering more than 1,000 armed slaves in Virginia. The revolt fails, and Prosser and more than 35 other slaves are executed.

__________________ - The African Baptist or "Bluestone" Church is founded on the William Byrd plantation near the Bluestone River, in Mecklenburg, Virginia, becoming the first known black church in North America.

_________________ - Lucy Terry, a slave, composes "Bars Fight," the first known poem by an African American. A description of an Indian raid on Terry's hometown in Massachusetts, the poem will be passed down orally and published in 1855.

_____________________ - The Abyssinian Baptist Church, New York City's oldest black church, is founded.

______________ - George Washington changes a previous policy and allows free blacks to enlist in the Continental Army. Approximately 5,000 do so. The British governor of Virginia promises freedom to slaves who enlist with the British.

_____________________ - A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured servants to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

__________________ - A black navigator, Pedro Alonso Niño, travels with Christopher Columbus's first expedition to the New World.

____________________ - Congress bans the importation of slaves into the U.S. The law will be largely ignored in the South.

___________________ - Richard Allen founds in Philadelphia what would become the Mother Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church, and Absalom Jones becomes the rector of the Saint Thomas African Episcopal Church.

___________________ - The first black black theater company in the United States, the African Company, is founded in New York.

_______________ - A passage condemning the slave trade is removed from the Declaration of Independence due to pressure from the southern colonies. The northern states will, however, one by one outlaw slavery, in a very gradual process that will extend although the last will not do so until.

_____________ - Free blacks in New York City found the African Free School, where future leaders Henry Highland Garnett and Alexander Crummell are educated.

Completion Complete each sentence or statement.
	1.	_____________ - Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, which makes cotton cultivation on a huge scale possible in the South and thus greatly increases the need for slaves, whose numbers skyrocket.
	2.	__________________ - The U.S.'s first independent African American church denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is organized in Philadelphia. By 2002, it will have more than 3 million members.
	3.	_______________________ - African American businessman Paul Cuffe finances the settlement of 38 African Americans in Sierra Leone.
	4.	___________________ - The first book by an African American is published (in England) when Phillis Wheatley, then a slave, publishes "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral."
	5.	__________________ - Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave, becomes the first Colonial soldier to die for American independence when he is killed by the British in the Boston Massacre.
	6.	______________ - One of the earliest slave revolts takes place in Stono, South Carolina. A score of whites and more than twice as many blacks slaves are killed as the armed slaves try to flee to Florida.
	7.	__________________ - Benjamin Banneker publishes the first almanac by an African-American and is appointed by President George Washington to help survey Washington, D.C.
	8.	_____________________ - Gabriel Prosser tries to organize the first large-scale slave revolt in the U.S., gathering more than 1,000 armed slaves in Virginia. The revolt fails, and Prosser and more than 35 other slaves are executed.
	9.	__________________ - The African Baptist or "Bluestone" Church is founded on the William Byrd plantation near the Bluestone River, in Mecklenburg, Virginia, becoming the first known black church in North America.
	10.	_________________ - Lucy Terry, a slave, composes "Bars Fight," the first known poem by an African American. A description of an Indian raid on Terry's hometown in Massachusetts, the poem will be passed down orally and published in 1855.
	11.	_____________________ - The Abyssinian Baptist Church, New York City's oldest black church, is founded.
	12.	______________ - George Washington changes a previous policy and allows free blacks to enlist in the Continental Army. Approximately 5,000 do so. The British governor of Virginia promises freedom to slaves who enlist with the British.
	13.	_____________________ - A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured servants to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia.
	14.	__________________ - A black navigator, Pedro Alonso Niño, travels with Christopher Columbus's first expedition to the New World.
	15.	____________________ - Congress bans the importation of slaves into the U.S. The law will be largely ignored in the South.
	16.	___________________ - Richard Allen founds in Philadelphia what would become the Mother Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church, and Absalom Jones becomes the rector of the Saint Thomas African Episcopal Church.
	17.	___________________ - The first black black theater company in the United States, the African Company, is founded in New York.
	18.	_______________ - A passage condemning the slave trade is removed from the Declaration of Independence due to pressure from the southern colonies. The northern states will, however, one by one outlaw slavery, in a very gradual process that will extend although the last will not do so until.
	19.	_____________ - Free blacks in New York City found the African Free School, where future leaders Henry Highland Garnett and Alexander Crummell are educated.